Protestantism after 500 Years

Thomas Albert Howard and Mark A. Noll

Abstract

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation will be widely marked on October 31, 2017, the conventional dating of Martin Luther’s famous 95 Theses. Countries, movements, churches, universities, and other institutions shaped by Protestantism face a daunting question: How should the Reformation be remembered five hundred years after the fact? Like the marking of Columbus’s voyages in 1992, this anniversary occasion will no doubt bring into public view longstanding scholarly debates, interpretations, and their revisions—along with a host of stock historical images, lingering confessional ... More

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation will be widely marked on October 31, 2017, the conventional dating of Martin Luther’s famous 95 Theses. Countries, movements, churches, universities, and other institutions shaped by Protestantism face a daunting question: How should the Reformation be remembered five hundred years after the fact? Like the marking of Columbus’s voyages in 1992, this anniversary occasion will no doubt bring into public view longstanding scholarly debates, interpretations, and their revisions—along with a host of stock historical images, lingering confessional animosities, and more recent ecumenical overtures. But how exactly does one commemorate a historical juggernaut of such immense influences and contested interpretations? In addition to being praised for restoring Christian truth or blamed for religious strife and divisions, the Reformation has been regarded as a turning point in Western and even world civilization, as well as the distant cause behind myriad modern phenomena such as political liberalism, religious freedom, nationalism, individualism, pluralism, modern science, and so much else. In an effort to foster insights for thinking well and wisely about Protestantism’s relation to such topics and related ones, this volume brings leading historians and theologians together to explore facets of the Reformation’s immense, contested, and abidingly influential legacy.

Matthew Levering

Timothy George

Ronald K. Rittgers

End Matter

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